The invention relates to improvements in a safety device for controlling access to an electrical outlet.
Such devices serve an obvious need particularly for preventing accidents and injuries to small children to whom a plugged-in-electric cord or open electrical outlet is a natural object of curiosity and investigation and many devices have been provided with this purpose in mind as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,716,733, 4,530,555, 4,470,655 and 4,652,696.
It has been observed that many of such prior devices emphazise the limits of dexterity and strength of small children and disclose various forms of a closure or cover for the outlet with various arrangements of latching means that have been designed with intricacies for the manner and form required to disengage the closure with the purpose that, because of the difficulties presented, the removal of the closure and resulting access to the outlet will be beyond the capabilities of small children and thus prevented. While such devices may serve their purpose with some children, there are many others whose ingenuity is such that mere difficulty in solving the workability of the latch mechanism will sooner or later be overcome by persistent efforts. A disadvantage which appears to be a common characteristic of such prior devices is that despite the intended difficulty of use, they are all capable of being operated merely by manual manipulation once the procedure is solved and thus do not accomplish their purpose for small children whose dexterity and strength may be greater than expected.
It has also been observed that devices designed to limit the access to an electrical outlet by small children can serve another important purpose of preventing accidental, inadvertent or intentional disconnection of an electric cord in situations where the connection should not be interrupted as, for example, where the connection is to an alarm system, a refrigerator, a freezer or the like. In these situations, whether caused by a small child or an adult and whether by accident, inadvertence or intentionally as a prank, such disconnection can affect the safety of a household or business or result in the spoilage of foods with the loss of the monetary value thereof. Alarm devices have been provided to signal the removal of a plug or outlet cover but these do not deny access to the outlet by small children or disconnection by accident and it is thus desirable that such a safety cover not be removable merely by manual manipulation dependent upon the dexterity of whomever attempts to do so or be susceptible of removal by accident or when not intended.
Accordingly, in view of the above obervations, it is one of the important objects herein to provide a safety cover for an electrical outlet, with or without a cord attached thereto, that once attached cannot be removed merely by manual manipulation.
More particularly, it is an object herein to provide a safety cover as characterized which includes a complementary base plate and cover with locking components that are inaccessible from outside the cover when the cover is attached but which are responsive to the presence of a magnetic force provided from outside of the cover for release to permit removal of the cover.
A further object is to provide a safety cover as characterized which prevents the removal thereof by accident or inadvertence.
Another object is to provide a safety cover of the above class which provides openings for the passage of the cord but prevents access to the electrical outlet through the openings.